Push-off hay stacker



Oct. 18, 1949. s. s. POKORNY 2,485,110

PUSH-OFF HAY STACKER Filed oct. 22, 1947 2 sheds-sheet 1 IIII IHJUI Oct.18, 1949. s. s. PoKoRNY PUSH-OFF HAY STACKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed oct.22, 1947 Patented Oct. 18, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to material handling and moving machinery andmore particularly to material moving mechanisms designed for attachmentto power vehicles.

Heretofore material lifting and moving mechanisms of the instant typehave been constructed in a manner whereby the cradle or scoop thereoftrips for dumping the entire load at one time.

To place a quantity of straw less than a full load in a desired place ithas been necessary to pick up only that amount, returning the cradlefrequently to pick up more straw. It has thus been impossible to build ahay or straw stack in an accurate manner without loss of time withpartial-load scoops.

It is therefor an object of this invention to provide a new materialhandling mechanism by means of which partial amounts of a larger loadmay be dumped at a selected point.

Another object of the invention is to provide a material liftingmechanism by means of which material may be stacked or piled moreaccurately and eiciently than heretofore.

Still another! object of the invention-resides in the provision of adevice as described having a particularly eflicient manually controlledmeans for moving a selected part of a larger load from a cradle orscoop.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device as describedemploying a pressureoperated jack to supply load dumping power.

Other and still further objects and advantages of the invention willb-ecome apparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the partial load dumping mechanism ofthe invention, shown as attached in an up position to a tractor, thelatter as well as the down position of said mechanism being shown indotted lines, and the ends of the tines of the hay-cradle being brokenaway;

Figure 2 is a detailed side elevation of the sliding connection betweena moving cradle back and a back-moving arm employed, adjacent portionsof the latter two elements being broken away;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the dumping mechanism and tractor asshown in Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a view-in-section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1,portions of the two channeliron tracks on a cradle-back and a portion ofone of the cradle-back moving arms employed not being Shown.

The material loading and moving mechanism of this invention is forattachment to a tractor, generally indicated at IIJ in dotted lines inFigures 1 and 3.

The loading mechanism is itself generally indikto dated at I2 in Figures1 and 3 and includes two position adjacent the rear axle housing I6 ofthe tractor I0.

The booms I4 are pivotally secured by means of suitable bolts I8 tomounting brackets 20, and the latter are themselves suitably attached tothe upper side of and at opposite ends of the axle housing I6.

The booms I4 are disposed in parallel alignment as seen in sideelevation in Figure 1 and are interconnected at their forward ends bymeans of a suitable rear bracing member 24, the latter eX- tendingtransversely of the tractor I0. The booms I4 are maintained rigid andbraced in a longitudinal plane by means of struts 26 which extend alongthe upper sides of the boom I4. The struts 26 are maintained spacedapart from the longitudinal center portions of the booms I4 by means ofsuitable Wings 30, and the struts 26 are secured to the booms I4 bybolts 32, disposed at either end of the struts 26.

Means are provided for raising and lowering the booms I4 and such meansinclude a pair of hydraulic jacks having jack cylinders 34 one disposedbeneath each one of the booms I4. The

jack cylinders 34 are pivotally mounted at their.'

rearward ends by means of pins 36 to a suitable mounting bracket securedto the frame of the tractor Ill. The points of pivotal connection formedby the pins 36 are each disposed beneath and preferably slightlyforwardly of the pivotal connections formed by the bolts I8 at therearward ends of the booms I4.

The jack pistons 40 are slidably mounted at their lower ends in therespective jack cylinders 34. At their upper ends, the piston rods 40are secured to the lower side of their` respective booms I4 by means ofconnection plates 42 and bolts 44.

The rearward ends of the jack cylinders 34 are in communication with thehydraulic pump 50 of the tractor IIl, which on the illustrated tractoris best seen beneath the seat thereof in Figure 3. The connectionbetween the lower ends of the jack cylinders 34 and the pump 5U isaccomplished by means now to be described.

A pair of hose lines 50 and 52 are connected respectively to the jackcylinders 34. The other ends of the hose lines 50' and 52 are connectedto a T or Y joint 54 and the latter is in communication at its otherport 'with one outlet port or a multiple port control Valve 60'.

The multiple port control valve 66 is in communication with the pump 50through a conduit 62, and the valve 6I] is provided with a second outletport and tting 64, which latter is in communication with a load dumpingor pushing jack to be later described. The control valve 60 may behand-operated by means of a suitable handle 66 which is disposed withinaconvenient reach of the driver of the tractor I0.

The material carrying portion of the mechaclined upper edges 14 adjacentthe forward extremities of the tines 12. forward extremities of thetines are upwardly inclined as indicated at 16. The latter inclina-jtion is for the purpose f minimizing the tendency of the tines 12 to diginto theI ground during cer-l The lower sides of the tain laterdescribed motions of the material mov-v y ing mechanism.

The cradle 10 is further provided with a crosspece 18 which latter isdisposed beneath and at a right-angle to the tines 12. The cross-piece18 is preferably disposed rearwardly of the center of the tines 12 andis secured thereto by means of suitable bolts 80. y

At the rearward end of the tines 12, a crossbrace |32A is provided andthe latter is preferably formed of a four-by-four disposed above therearward ends of the tines 12 and secured thereto byV means of suitablebolts 84. The four-by-four 82 is in turn. secured to a forward bracingmember 86, not shownby means of a pair of U-bolts 88. The forwardbracing member 66, not shown in the drawings, is disposed between andattached to the booms I4 at a point spaced from but adjacent the upperend of the boom I4.

The U-bolts 68 are disposed around the forward bracing member 86 and theopposite sides thereof extendv upwardly on opposite sides of thecross-brace 82. There the said ends are secured to the cross-brace 82 bymeans of suitable nuts 90 and an attachment plate 92. As thus described,the cradle 10 is rigidly secured to the booms I4.

At the forward extremities of the booms I4, each of the latter aresecured'to one of a pair of skids 96 having curved' forward surfaces forslideable engagement with the ground. The skids 95 are provided with anupper end section disposed in parallelism with the tines 12 and the endsections are each secured to the cross-piece 18 by means of suitablebolts 68.

The rearward ends of the skids 96 are disposed in approximateparallelism with the tines 12 and are attached to the forward ends oftheir respective booms I4 by means of attachment plates |00 and bolts|02. The attachment plates |00`also serve to connect the booms I4 toopposite ends of the cross-piece 18 so that the cradle 10 is rigidlysecured to the booms I4. v

A pair of pivot posts H0 are mounted at opposite sides of the rearwardend of the cradle 10, being secured to the upper side of the cross-brace82. The posts ||0 are preferably disposed at a right-angle with respectto the lcross-bar 82 as well as at a right-angle with respect to thetines 12.

The pivot posts |I0 are respectively disposed through sleeve portions|26 of a pair of arms |22 and |24. The said arms are each disposed inplanes in parallelism with the tines 12 and are secured to the sleeves|20 by means of leg pieces |26. The latter are welded or otherwisesecured to both the arms |22 and |24 and the sleeves |20 and are eachdisposed at a right angle with respect to the said arms and sleeves.

Each of the arms |22 and |24 is provided with a reinforcing strut |30,which latter are each secured to their respective arm at the forward endof the latter; and at the lrearward ends of the arms, the reinforcingstruts |30 are welded or otherwise suitably secured to the legs |26 atpoints spaced apart from the rearward ends of the arms |22 andv |24.

Additional strength may be added to the arms |22 and |24 by providingspaced apart spacers |32 disposed transversely between and attached tothe arms |22 and |24 and their respective reinforcing struts |30.

Between the upper ends of the pivot posts I'I0 a cross-post or bracingmember |40 is provided and the latter i's rigidly secured to the upperends of the.` posts II.

A pair of levers |42 are attached to the sleeves |20 onthosesides of thelatter, substantially opposite the sides of the sleeves |20 to which thelegs |256 are secured; and a pair of tension springs' |44 are eachattached to the forward end of the respective one of the lever |42 atone of the ends of each spring and are anchored at their other ornormally rearward ends to the cross-bar 02., the said anchoring being atpoints inwardly dis'- posed from their respective posts ||0.

The forward ends of the arms |22 and |24 are best shown in Figure 2, andare each secured t0 one of two spreaders |50, the latter having'ngers|52 attached to its ends.

The spreader |50 is disposed in parallelism with the posts IIl. and at aright angle with respect to the tines 12, and with respect to the arms|22 and |24. The spreader |50- may be welded or otherwise suitablysecured to the forward ends of the arms |22 and |24 at points betweenthe nngers |52.

The larms |22 and |24 are attached to their respective sleeves |20 insuch positions that the arm |22 will be disposed above the arm `|24throughout all swing-ing movements of 'the arms aboutv their respectiveposts I I0. For this reason the arm |22 will join its spreader |50 at apoint normally disposed above the point of joinder between ,the arm |24and its spreader |50.

As best shown in Figure 2, the fingers |52 are disposedv in parallelismwith `the arms |22 and |24 and with the tines 12. The fingers |52 extenddownwardly beyond their respective spreaders |50 and rollers |54V aremounted, one each, on pins |56. The pins |56, are attached to theforward ends of' each of the fingers |52, respectively, on theoppositely disposed faces of the latter. The pins |56 extend toward eachother at a rightangle to the fingers |52 so that the rollers |54,rotatably mounted on the pins |56, rotate in planes in parallelism withthe ingers |52 and with the arms |24.

The purpose of the rollers |54 is to engage in one of two U-shapedchannels |60. The latter are disposed in parallelism, their openv sidesturnedv away from each other upward and downward respectively. Thechannels |60 are attached by means of suitable spaced apart angleirons|62, bolts |64 and nuts |66 to the rearward side of a cradle-back, thelatter being composed of interconnected, spaced apart, upstandingmembers |10 and spaced apart, horizontal members |12. The members|1U'and |12 are disposed, respectively, at a rightangle with andparallel to the tines 12.

The channel members |60 are elongated and extend horizontally across theback side of' the upstanding members 10. The horizontal cradlebackmembers |12 ,preferably extend completely across the tines 12 in atransverse direction.

The' lowermost of the horizontal cradle-back members |12 is preferablydisposed against the tines 12 and is adapted to slide thereacross. Anelongated apron |90 is provided and is disposed extending in ahorizontal direction forwardly of and inclinedly disposed with respectto the lowermost horizontal member |12. The apron 90 is vpivotallyattached to the lowermost member |12 by means of a hinge |92 in such amanner that the lower edge of the apron |90 will always be disposedforwardly of the lowermost member |12. At times when the cradle-back isdisposed atits forwardmost point, as determined by the length of thearms |22 and |24, the lowermost cross-member |12 will stop at therearward side of the inclined portion 14 and the forward edge of theapron |90 will dip downwardly, during :forward motions of thecradle-back across the portion 14, so that the apron |90 will follow theinclination 14 for cleaning hay or straw therefrom.

'I'he cradle-back is prevented from moving excessively forward orrearward by four stops |9| secured to the channels |60 at either end ofthe paths of the rollers |54.

In order to maintain the straw or hay in position upon the cradle 10,two side-tines 200 are provided on opposite sides of thev cradle. Theside-tines are welded or otherwise suitably secured to pipe sections 202and one of two bracing bars 203 are welded to the tines 200 and `to thepipe sections 202. The pipe sections 202 are themselves disposed aboutand rigidly secured to pipe sections 202 and one of two side tines 200extend forwardly from the posts 0 on opposite sides of the cradle |10and in parallelism with the bed tines 12.

Means are provided for moving the cradleback forward by swinging thearms |22 and |24. Such means include a hydraulic jack having a cylinder220, best seen in Figure 4. A jack-piston 222 lis slideably disposed inone end of the jack cylinder `220. The cylinder 220 is anchored to thefour-by-four 82 at its other end.

In operation, the new device may be used for scooping hay from theground or small stacks and for this purpose the load lifting portion I2thereof is disposed in the dotted line position shown in Figure 1. Whenin such position, the cradle 10 is supported upon the skids 96 which arein turn disposed in slidable engagement with the surface of the ground 20.

In this position the forward ends of the tines 12 lwill scoop straw uponthe cradle. Since the cradle-back is disposed as close to the post 0 asis possible during loading, and farther to the rearward than shown indotted lines in Figure 1, a considerable quantity of straw may be loadedupon the cradle.

When the cradle is loaded the latter may be elevated by adjusting thehandle 66 on the pump 60 and the handle 266 of the backward and forwardcontrol valve, not shown, so that oil will be caused to ow from the pump50 through the valve 6|), and through the hose lines 50 and 52 to thejack cylinder 34. The jack pistons will then be caused to raise thebooms 4 and the cradle 10.

The hay or straw may then be transported to a point for dumping byoperation of the tractor may so regulate the valve 66 and the handle 266of the backward and forward flow valve, not shown, that the oil underpressure is caused to flow from the pump 50, through the valve 60, andthrough the conduit-l 32 to the push-olf jack When this point isreached, the operator the lower ends of the sleeves |20.

cylinder 220 causing the piston 222 to slide outwardly thereof. l

A pair of lever arms 230 are provided, as bestl |26 and rotate with thelatter and with the arms,

22 and |24. The lever arms 230 extend outwardly from the sleeves |20 inthe same radial position as the leg pieces |26; in other words,- thelever arms 230 are preferably disposed i parallelism with the leg pieces|26.

A cable 235 is secured at one of its ends tol one of the arms 230. Fromthere the cable 234 extends to and is reeved over a pulley 236, whichlatter is mounted, by means of a suitable bracket 238, on thefour-by-four 82. The pulley 236 is disposed rearwardly of thefour-by-four crosspiece 82 and is positioned on the opposite sidev ofthe cradle 10 from that lever arm 230 to which the cable 234 isattached. rThe pulley 236 is also disposed on the opposite side of thecradle 10 from the piston rod end of the jack cylinder 220.

From the pully 236, the cable 234 extends to and is'reeved over a secondpully v240. The latter is secured on the end of the push-olf jack piston222. The second pully 240, the cable 234 extends in a directionsubstantially in parallelism with that portion of the cable 234 which isbetween the pullys 236 and 240. In other words, from the pully 240 thecable 234 extends in substantial parallelism with the cross-brace 82 andits end is anchored to the cross-brace 82, adjacent the jack cylinder220, by means of a suitable U-bolt 242 anda cable clamp 244.

A second cable. 245 is secured at one end to the rearward end of theother lever arm 230 and the other end of the second cable 245 extends`forwardly onto the opposite side of the cradle'10 and is attached bymeans of a cable clamp 246 to aportion of the cable 234 which isdisposed between the pu1lys236 and 24U. The particular point ofconnection between the cables 234 and 245 is disposed so that at timeswhen the pully 240 is urged outwardly by the jack piston 222, the cables234 and 245 will exert equal forces upon the lever arms 230 and upon thearms |22 and |24, for moving, simultaneously, both sides of thecradle-back forwardly. l.

Power for the jack cylinder 220 is supplied through a suitable conduit250 and the latter extends to the outlet port fitting 64 of the multipleportcontrol valve 60.

The flow of oil into and out of the push-off jack cylinder 220, and intoorout of the boom raising jack cylinder 34, is controlled by means of abackward or forward flow-valve, not shown. the latter forming a part ofthe tractor |0. Such valve controls the pumping action of the pump sothat the latter either permits oil to return to a reservoir, not shown,from the valve or exerts an oil pressure and flow into the valve 60.

The backward and forward flow valve which. is not shown is controlled bymeans of a. lever 262, pivotally attached to the tractor |0 by means236, pulling on the lever arm 230. This in turn 7 rotates the sleeve |20for swinging the arm |22 forwardly. Simultaneously, the lever-arm 230lis caused to rotate the other sleeve |20 and arm |24, since the arm isattached to the cable 245 and tothe cable 234 by the clamp 246.

As thearms |22 and |24 move forwardly at their forward ends, the rollers|54 slide in the channel-irons 60 urging the cradle-back forward. This,in turn forces hay off the forward end of the tines 12. At the end ofthe forward motion of the cradle-back, the apron |90 pushes the lastremaining portions of the load of hay or straw ofi the tines l2.

l If desired; in lieu of dumping the load, all in onefplace, thecradle-back may be moved only partially forwardly while the tractor isdisposed in one position for dumping one portion of the load. Thetractor may then be moved to another position and the cradle-back movedfarther forwardly for dumping another portion.

In this manner, hay and straw stacks may be built efciently and withoutthe loss of time which would be required if' it were necessary toelevate smaller loads for each individual dumping.

Following dumping, the handle 266 is manipulatedv for permitting oil toow back to the oil i reservoir of the tractor I from the jack cylinder220. The arms |22 and |24 will then be swung to the rear Aof the cradleunder the urge of the tension springs |44 on the levers |42. The boomsI4 are then lowered to the ground, and into the positions shown indotted lines in Figure 1, by so manipulating the handle 66 of the valve60 so that oil flows from the boomjack cylinders 34 back into the oilreservoir of the tractor I0. The booms I4 will then lower by gravity,until the skids 96 are in engagement with the ground.

This invention has provided a material handling mechanism capable ofdumping partial amounts of a large load at selected points foraccurately and efficiently building hay stacks or straw stacks and thelike.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that apush-off hay stacker constructed in accordance with my invention isparticularly well adapted for use by reason of the convenience andfacility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will alsobe obvious that my invention is susceptible of some change andmodification without departing from the principles and spirit thereofand for this reason, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myselfto the precise arrangement and formation ofthe several parts hereinshown in carrying out myV invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

1. A hay stacker for attachment to a motor vehicle having a controllablesource of freely flowing material under pressure, comprising a cradlebed extending forwardly of said vehicle; contrullablev lifting meansinterconnecting said cradle bed and said vehicle for raising andlowering' said bed at desired times; a cradle back supported by said bedand extending from side to side of and upwardly from the latter duringruse, said Aback being slidableforwardly and rearwardly of said bed; twoelongated criss-crossed pushing arms pivotally secured to said bed atpoints to the rearward end of said bed at one end of each arm, saidpoints being spaced apart sideways of said'v bed, the other end of eacharm being disposed' slideablyattached to the rearward side ofy saidback; resilient means for swinging. the forward ends of said armsrearwardly; and a jack having a cylinder in communication with saidsource, one end of said jack being anchored to said bed, the other endof said jack being so connected to said arms as to swing the forwardends of said arms forwardly at desired times for moving said backforwardly of said bed.

2. A hay stacker as described in claim l in which said cradle isprovided with like pointed, forwardly extending tines, said tines havingdownwardly inclined upper edges near the forward extremities thereof;and in which an apron.

extends forwardly of said cradle-back and transversely of said tines,said apron being pivotally secured to said cradle-back in a mannerwhereby said apron is adapted to follow the said inclined edges of saidtines for pushing hay there- I said bed at desired times; a cradle-backsupported by said cradle-bed and extending transversely of and upwardlyfrom the latter during use, said cradle-back being slidable forwardlyand rearwardly of said cradle-bed; means responsive to the flow of saidmaterial and correlated with said cradle-back for moving the latterforwardly on said cradle bed at desired times; other means for causingsaid cradle-back to move rearwardly of said cradle-bed at other desiredtimes, 'said cradle having like pointed forwardly extending tines saidtines having downwardly inclined upper edges near the forwardextremitiesy thereof; and an apron extending forwardly of saidcradleback and transversely of said tines, said apron being pivotallysecured to said cradle-back in a manner whereby said apron is adapted tofollow the said inclined upper edges of said tines for pushing haytherefrom during forward motion of said cradle-back.

4. In a hay stacker for attachment to a prime mover having acontrollable source of power, a frame, a cradle bed secured to saidframe and ex'- tending forwardly of said vehicle; a cradle-back slidablydisposed on said bed; two spaced apart posts secured to said framerearwardly of saidl back; two criss-crossed arms each rotatably securedto a different one of said posts at one end of each arm, the forwardends of said arms slidably engaging the rearward side of said back;` twolegs each secured to a different one of said arms at an angle withrespect to the attached arm;r and means movably securing said legs tosaid power sourcev for causing pivotal movements thereof.

STEPHEN S. POKORNY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the i'lle ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Selak Sept. 7, 1948.

